Sermons

The Belgic Confession

From time to time CCRC takes a look at the important documents in the history of the Reformed church tradition. These documents define significant features of the Reformed approach to the Bible, influencing how we read it. They also have had an effect on how the worldwide Reformed community has tried to live a Christian life in the face of challenges. The Belgic Confession’s chief author was Guido de Brès, a preacher of the Reformed churches of the Netherlands, who died a martyr to the faith in the year 1567. (Two things: That's him in prison in the picture and "Confession" doesn't mean confessing to believing or doing something wrong--more like just telling or making a case for what you believe.) During the sixteenth century the churches in the Netherlands were exposed to terrible persecution by the Roman Catholic government. To protest against this cruel oppression, and to prove to the persecutors that the members of the Reformed faith were not rebels, but law-abiding citizens who professed true Christian beliefs, de Brès prepared this Confession in the year 1561. In the following year a copy was sent to King Philip II, together with a letter in which the Reformed declared that they were ready to obey the government in all lawful things, but that they would “offer their backs to stripes, their tongues to knives, their mouths to gags, and their whole bodies to the fire,” rather than deny the truth expressed in this Confession. Pretty fearful stuff and, thankfully, we don't know suffering like that for practicing our Christian faith in Canada. But there's something about tough, challenging times that helps people get to the truth of the matter and we can learn a lot today from Christians who are imprisoned or otherwise punished for believing the Bible. What you'll find in the Confession and in our sermon series is a powerful walk through those Biblical truths.